The House at the End of the Street

Prologue

The day was dark, the night darker. It was the 31st of October, Halloween night. I was 13 years old and was getting bored with the idea of Halloween, but my friends, Charlie and Carter, insisted that I go with them this year. As we got older, we never really dressed up as we used to since we didn't want to look stupid. I wore a suit and a tie for no other reason than just because I didn't have anything else.
Before we continue, let me introduce myself. My name is Zack. I lost my parents due to a break-in gone wrong when I was seven years old. I play in band and hoped to play in college, but what is going on now, I'm not sure there will be a college. Just read, you'll understand once you read it. Back to the story.
The night of Halloween was a dark, cloudy night. The moon had a yellow-ish glow to it. The grass was brown, almost a black color. It had been raining for hours, but finally cleared up. I was hoping the rain would cancel this year, but the odds were not in my favor.
Charlie was the adventurer and wasn't scared of anything. Carter was always cautious, not getting candy that had been opened by the giver. And I was just the tag-along, as I was every year. I was hoping this year would be better.
The night was cold, about sixty degrees at most. There were many people there this year, for no other reason than for free candy, which made Halloween a favorite, but it was never my favorite. My parents died right before Halloween, so I had always had something bad for Halloween, but I always went with Charlie and Carter since they didn't have many friends. Neither did I.
We came upon the first(and hopefully last) neighborhood and started walking towards the first house. When we started trick or treating, it was 8:03 PM. I hoped to get done by 9:30, but I doubted it since we had always taken longer than we had hoped every year.
"Not bad for the first house," Charlie said, looking down into his bag. About 1/16th of the bag was full.
"Remember, let me inspect the candy before we eat it. Could be contaminated," Carter said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a Crunch Bar.
"C'mon, Carter. It was one year that a butterfinger was open. One year that was six years ago," I said to him.
"Still, though. Could have been contaminated," Carter pointed out, placing the Crunch Bar back into his bag.
I shook my head, but just accepted the fact that Carter was weird. He was into stocks and Tesla, and whatever else. We finished up the neighborhood at about 9:45 PM and I wanted to get home before school the next morning, but then, we noticed something... strange. There was a house, at the end of a dark, dark street. There was one singular lamppost, with the light inside flickering on and off. The house was dark on the inside, but had one light, on the front porch.
"Holy crap. Look at that house. Some people really got into the spirit of Halloween," Charlie said, turning around to walk off, but I grabbed him and pulled him back.
"The front light's on. We should at least try and see if it's haunted," I said, starting to walk towards it.
"What if it's a trap?" Carter asked.
"Dude. It'll be fine. I'm in," Charlie said, coming up behind me.
"Fine. But if something happens, I get the right to an 'I told you so'," Carter replied, running up behind Charlie and I.
It was a 1921 mansion, presumably haunted by ghosts and demons. A story from the early nineties said that the house was a gate to hell. Of course, we never knew any of it. We didn't let that stop us and we decided to finish off the night and see if the house at the end of the street was occupied. We came up to the front lawn and looked at the huge mansion. We stared at the old house for a few seconds.
"Carter, you go and knock," Charlie said, worrisome.
"I think Zack should. I mean, he suggested it!" Carter replied.
"I'm not going up there! You go!" I said, arguing with them.
We finally agreed that I would go up there and ring the doorbell. I walked up the cold, stone steps and rang the doorbell. RING! Then, nothing. I rang it again. RING! Then, the door opened, just so slightly. Then, something slowly opened up the entire door. Across the room was a single lamp, a shovel, a fork, and a couple of outlets, probably installed in 2010. I stuck my head inside the house.
"I'm gonna grab the lamp. No one lives here so it's not technically stealing, right?" I said, stepping my right foot into the house.
I stood at the entrance for about twenty seconds and put my other foot inside.
"See, not that scary!" I said, walking into the giant, empty room.
Each corner of the room was filled with darkness. The darkness scared me the most.
"Oh shoot. This house is old," Carter stated, walking inside.
Charlie stood outside, cautious of what could be inside. Now Charlie was the cautious one and not Carter. Charlie finally got the courage to come inside.
I walked over to the lamp and picked it up. Then, the door slammed.
"What was that?" Carter said, nervous.
"The wind?" Charlie replied, trying to calm him down.
"Yeah, like the wind could slam the door like that," I said.
The lock on the door slowly moved counterclockwise, locking us inside. The door was locked from the outside, causing us to be trapped from the inside.
"We're trapped," I said, stating the obvious.
I picked up the lamp and started walking towards the door, hoping to break the lock. I smashed the doorknob, but to no avail. I kept running back and forth, trying to find something to get out of there. I grabbed the shovel, but slipped on something wet, dropping the shovel, causing it to break the floorboards.
"Great! We're stuck!" Charlie exclaimed.
"Like you didn't do anything! I get the right to an 'I told you so! So, I told you so!!" Carter yelled back.
"This is because you were a baby and didn't come up here!" Charlie yelled at Carter.
"Oh, shut up, Charlie!" Carter yelled back.
"Guys! Shut it! There's something beneath the floorboards," I said.
I grabbed the shovel and started to break away the floorboards. There was a deep dark red glow from under the floorboards. The spirits of the dead circled the hole. Shivers went down my back.
"What the hell?" Charlie said, leaning closer to it.
"I'm gonna try and get us outta here," I replied.
I walked over to the front door and slammed the shovel into the doorknob. BAM! BAM! BAM! Nothing.
"Zack!" Carter shrieked.
I ran into the living room to find a red hand pulling Charlie into the hole.
"Charlie!" I yelled, running over and grabbing his hand, hoping to pull him out.
It was too late, and Charlie was pulled into the hole, and the spirits pulled him into the endless hole.
"We've gotta get outta here," Carter said.
I tried to knock down the door, but nothing. The light to the lamp started flickering red, and a red spirit with horns, wings, and a spiked tail flew up from the hole. Carter and I ran from the red being, which I will call a Demon.
"Go away you Demon!" Carter yelled, grabbed the shovel, and threw it at the Demon, but it harmlessly bounced off.
The Demon grabbed me by the leg and tried to pull me into the underworld, but I grabbed the fork(of all things to grab) and shoved it into the Demon's eye. It let go of my leg and I defended myself with the fork and circled around the Demon.
"Haha. I win," the Demon said in a hissing voice, sending shivers down my back.
"Na. I'd wait to celebrate," I said.
Even for a Demon, it didn't move fast, so I had enough time to wrap its tail around the fork and shove it into an outlet. Carter stood in awe as the Demon backed away and went back into the demon hole. Then, the Demon came out from the hole and grabbed Carter by his leg.
"Carter!" I screamed, grabbing his arm and trying to save him.
My hand was slipping from his arm.
"I... told... you so," Carter said, then falling into the endless hole.
Carter was gone, never to return again. I grabbed the shovel and started smashing the wall. The demon flew from the hole and started to fly towards me. I saw the window and threw the shovel at the window, but it didn't break. I grabbed the shovel and threw it at the demon, hitting it in the face.
"What do you want from me!?" I yelled at it, but it didn't respond.
The Demon screamed and started to charge at me. I ducked and the demon hit the wall right behind me.
"Just die, already!" The demon yelled, trying to grab me.
Then, the demon smacked me against the wall and trapped me in the corner of a wall. The Demon stuck its face into mine, I could feel its hot breath on my face. I grabbed the shovel and stabbed it into the wall. Then, the mansion started falling. The walls around me started to cave in on each other. The front door fell over and I jumped out of the mansion.
"Bye-bye. I win," I said, shoving the shovel into the Demon's face. The Demon fell backward and back into the underworld hole. I ran from the mansion and turned around just in time to see the entire mansion collapse into itself. It was over. The mansion was gone and so was Charlie, Carter, and the Demon.
That night changed me forever. I would have never thought in a million years that Charlie and Carter would die from being dragged into hell by a demon.